Sony NEX-7 versus rival model with similar score

Further readings for the Sony NEX-7

To provide photographers with a broader perspective about mobiles, lenses and cameras, here are links to articles, reviews, and analyses of photographic equipment produced by DxOMark, renown websites, magazines or blogs.

We’ve tested the image quality of the 24-Mpix Sony A6000 with over 23 zoom and prime lenses. Read on to find out which of those models perform best with Sony’s current top-of-the-line APS-C mirrorless model.

Panasonic GH series of micro four-thirds cameras are some of the best all-round video and stills hybrid solutions currently available. Read on to find out how the new 4K capable Four Thirds sensor in GH4 performs.

Recently announced in a black finish, the original chrome-bodied version was the first telephoto zoom for the firm’s NEX mirrorless models and was intended to complement the 18-55mm kit lens. Read on to find out how well it performs.

Continuing our series of lens recommendations for new camera models, we’ve had the opportunity to assess the new entry-level Sony A3000 - the first of a new DSLR form-factor from the firm to adopt the mirrorless E-mount. We’ve assessed and collated data on a sizeable collection of Sony and third-party prime and zoom models to assess image quality. Read onto find out which of these models perform best when paired with the new camera.

Continuing our series of evaluation of lens systems we’ve assessed a modest range of Pentax and third-party lenses for their optical quality on the firm’s new flagship Pentax K-3 model. As the replacement for the K-5 II and K-5 IIs, the Pentax K-3 has a new higher pixel density 24-Mpix sensor without an AA filter, and is a promising platform for lens evaluation. Read on to find out which models perform best, and which, if any, that should be avoided.

Although not officially released in the US, as the equivalent to an 18-35mm the new EF-M 11-22mm f4-5.6 IS STM is an essential addition to the EOS M system. Read on to find out how well it performs in our labs.

Sigma’s range of DN A lenses have been designed for mirrorless cameras using both MFT and APS-C sensors, albeit with different mounts. As the equivalent to a 45mm on an APS-C camera we’ve tested the 30mm f2.8 on the discerning Sony NEX-7. Read on to find out how well it performs.

As a short telephoto prime for Sony NEX and Olympus and Panasonic cameras, the re-categorized A series Sigma 60mm f/2.8 DN prime fills a gap not yet occupied by the camera maker’s own models. Read on to see how well this lens performs.

While Samsung has a number of zooms in their mirrorless NX lens range, their primes consist of an intriguing amalgamation of compact ‘pancake’ types, ultra-high speed designs and special purpose models. We’ve assembled five models for testing and analyzed them using a 20Mpix Samsung NX20. Read on to see how well the combination of high-resolution APS-C sensor and innovative NX-mount primes perform.

Introduced during 2011, the 24-Mpix Sony NEX-7 remains a high-watermark for mirrorless models despite recent introductions from rivals. We’ve now had the opportunity to measure the performance of this camera with a number of promising new lens models. Read on to see how well the combination of Sony’s high-resolution APS-C sensor and the very latest E-mount lenses perform.

ZEISS already have one prime lens in Sony’s NEX line-up, albeit made under license for them, but at Photokina in September, the optics firm announced its intention to produce AF lenses in both Sony NEX and Fuji X mounts. The first of these lenses in the series, dubbed Touit by the maker, are an ultra-wide Distagon 2.8/12 (18mm equivalent) and a standard-type Planar 1.8/32 (50mm equivalent). Read on to see how well these two new lenses perform on the Sony NEX-7.

Nikon was one of the last big camera makers to offer a mirrorless model but when they finally announced the Nikon 1 system back in September, 2011, they attracted some controversy for adopting a new smaller sensor than rivals. Since then, they’ve done well to increase popularity of the system by expanding the range of lenses in a relatively short time frame. The 1 Nikkor 6.7-13mm f/3.5-5.6 and the 18.5mm f/1.8 are two of the newest models from the firm. Read on to see how well they perform when mounted on the Nikon 1 V1 body.

The $348 Sony E 20mm f/2.8 is a wide-angle prime for the Sony NEX range of hybrid still cameras and Interchangeable Lens camcorders. Its equivalent 30mm wide-angle focal length is ideal for interiors, landscapes or street photography, and a f/2.8 aperture is great in low-light. Just 20.4mm deep and weighing 69g it’s compact for travelling light, but how will it perform?

Sony’s annual update to the NEX range has so far failed to deliver the expected high-end replacement to the NEX-7. However, Sony has added the promising NEX-6 and refrevshed the popular, entry-level NEX-F3 with this new sleek looking model. Read on to see how well it performed in our labs.

Launched in March 2013 the $1097 Coolpix A is Nikon’s first compact camera with an APC-S sensor and features the same 16.2-megapixel DX sensor from Nikon’s D7000 DSLR but with its optical low-pass filter removed. Utilizing a fixed NIKKOR 18.5mm f/2.8 prime lens (equivalent to 28mm in 35mm terms) the Nikon Coolpix A has the right ingredients for great image quality so let’s see how it performs.

Hybrid is a word used both positively and negatively, quite appropriate for the photographic industry. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 wears this badge: "Hybrid", a mix of system and compact. It has a range of lenses spanning 7mm to 300mm (equivalent to 14mm up to 600mm in full frame 35mm) and a body that is not much bigger than a compact camera. Should it wear it with pride? Yes, it should…

After the introduction of the entry-level 24Mpix D3200 early last year it seemed inevitable that the rest of the firm’s APS-C (DX) range would be refreshed with the same sensor. While the gestation of the new 24Mpix D5200 has taken longer than most people could of reasonably predicted, the sensor is, in fact, a new design and the first from a different vendor for Nikon. We’ve recently put the new camera through our labs, read on to see how the new sensor performs.

A noise benchmark of 187 digital cameras by Peter van den Hamer

DxOMark Camera Sensor is a raw benchmark for camera bodies by DxO Labs. The benchmark is “raw” because it measures image quality using Raw output files. It is also raw as DxO’s data can be used to cook up camera reviews that cover more aspects than image quality.

Canon was the last major maker to embrace the hybrid or ‘mirrorless’ camera market. As a somewhat sober debut, designed for those who are new to photography, the EOS M adopts an 18-megapixel APS-C format in a compact body but boasts a number of advanced features including a 31-point hybrid AF system for stills and video and a touch sensitive 3-inch LCD. While it’s clear this camera doesn’t compete directly with the firm’s DSLRs, how does it stack up against the competition that don’t have the same volume of DSLR sales to protect?

Announced in September 2012, the Sony NEX-6 creates a new range in the Sony line-up. It sits between the flagship Sony NEX-7 and the mid-range Sony NEX-5R offering features and performance benefits to beginner and advanced photographers alike. Providing a simplified user-interface than the NEX-7, the NEX-6 is none-the-less fully featured with a high-resolution OLED viewfinder, Full HD video recording and a tilt-adjustable screen for ease of use.

Announced in September 2012, the Sony NEX-6 creates a new range in the Sony line-up. It sits between the flagship Sony NEX-7 and the mid-range Sony NEX-5R offering features and performance benefits to beginner and advanced photographers alike. Providing a simplified user-interface than the NEX-7, the NEX-6 is none-the-less fully featured with a high-resolution OLED viewfinder, Full HD video recording and a tilt-adjustable screen for ease of use.

With the Pen E-PL5, Olympus updates its range of micro 4:3 compact hybrids with redesigned ergonomics, upgraded electronics, and especially with the integration of the same 16Mpix LiveMos sensor found in the OM-D E-M5. Will it show the same advances in image quality as the flagship camera of its line? Our tests provide the answer.

Finally, a Sony full-frame DSLR: the last one was the Alpha 850. But though the new full-format 24Mpix camera shines with all of its new technology and features, it now belongs to the family of cameras with electronic viewfinders instead of with the Alpha 900 and its traditional DSLR viewfinder. With this new positioning, Sony stands out from among the leading lights in this market segment.

The NEX-F3 is one of three Sony mirrorless camera models released in 2012, and it’s the company’s eighth since the launch of the NEX line in 2010. The NEX-F3 borrows heavily from higher-end models, but also taps much of the technology found in its predecessor. So is there any big evolution in sensor quality for the NEX-F3? Or were most of the changes to the camera cosmetic? DxOMark has some answers.

Olympus caused a sensation when it revived the legendary OM line that had enjoyed its heyday in the silver halide era. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 successfully revisits the OM design in terms of its ergonomics and workmanship. Olympus has quite precisely taken advantage of this new family in its line of compact hybrid micro 4:3 cameras to introduce a new 16 Mpix Live MOS sensor. What is this new sensor all about? Does it represent an improvement over current Pen sensors? Does it help the micro 4:3 category to catch up with the APS-C hybrids (with the Sony NEX in the lead)? Our sensor review provides the answers.

We are already acquainted with the D3200: apart from a few ergonomic details, it’s the same camera as the compact and lightweight D3100 SLR, though missing the secondary display on its bridge for even greater compactness. The D3200 weighs only 454 grams (without battery or card). Unlike the D3100, the D3200’s lens is off-center for better balance and the highly practical LiveView/video mode activation tab of the D3100 and the D5100 has disappeared in favor of a more ergonomically mundane video recording button. The D3200 comes with a second (dorsal) infrared sensor to complement its front sensor for more practical infrared remote control. The motor selection tab (single-frame, burst, timer, remote control) is gone as well, again replaced by a direct-access button.

Ever since we tested the Sony SLT A77, we’ve been very curious to see how the soon-to-be released Sony NEX 7 would compare. And today we have the answer: as we expected, the absence of a mirror gives the NEX7 some advantages. Below is a detailed look.

It’s rare in the world of photography for a manufacturer to come up with an entirely new product line from scratch, and it’s equally rare for a famous manufacturer such as Nikon (the world market leader) to offer a new lens mount (Nikon CX). This makes the launch of the Nikon 1 line (Nikon J1 and Nikon V1) a major event in photography this fall.

When the Sony A77 was announced a couple of weeks ago as a replacement for the Sony Alpha 700, Sony’s semi-professional APS-C camera, we were all very impressed by its specifications. So we were really excited to see how it would perform in our tests.

The long awaited and rumored mirrorless Nikon camera was finally announced today. And it’s not just one but a pair of new mirrorless compact “1 System” cameras that are coming to compete with the Sony NEX 7, the Pentax Q, the Olymps PEN EP3 or even the Fujifilm FinePix X10. These 2 first models in this new Nikon 1 series are the Nikon J1 and Nikon V1.

Re: Missing Lens

major miss

Ok. 1) In order for one to claim the best lenses for a camera system then order them based on their performances, he must test all native lenses first.How come you guys miss 18-55mm zoom lens that almost all of us owned it before PZ lens was out?We all know 18-55mm zoom gives a better performance than 18-200mm in many ways. Some of us say it is better than PZ 16-50 too. So it would place within the first 3 but yet its not even in the list.2) I would put Rokinon 8mm f2.8 in this list in somewhere on high levels too. It is an e-mount lens.

Hope you will correct your list with the 1) addition. then enrich it with rokinon and dslr magic lenses.

First replies for this comment

Re: major miss

Comparison

I'm surprised that the Sony 50mm outperform the Zeiss 24mm. I'm not convinced this is the case in real world shooting of these two lenses. Although mechanically its probably easier to make a good 50 than a good 24. I was shooting with someone who had the Sony while I was using the Zeiss and I had better light transmission...I don't believe he was using a filter and I was. Regardless, thank you for the above review.

First replies for this comment

Re: Comparison

I am not surprised at all. I use both. 50mm is a better lens. Both on sharpness, low CA and low vignetting. Also it is a OSS lens. 700$ less than Zeiss is the last reason that makes it again better than 24 zeiss.In fact I would vote for sel35 f/1.8 to be again better than 24 zeiss too. I also own this lens. It is significantly smaller than zeiss and costs less than half. Performance of this lens is minimally worse than zeiss that everybody can live with that.

Sony 50mm f1.8 is not as good as Zeiss 24mm f1.8

I've tried two samples of the Sony 50mm f1.8 against the Zeiss / Sony 24mm f1.8 and neither of the Sony's performed as well. My observation is that the Sony at f8 about equals the Zeiss at f4, with the Zeiss having at least a 1.5-stop advantage at wider apertures. From f1.8 to f4, the Zeiss is sharper, with better contrast and lower chromatic aberration. What I see looks a lot closer to what slrgear.com found in their testing of both lenses.

Zeiss touit 12 mm

I must continue to misunderstand !The 20 mm is poor in sharpness as it is a pancake !! I have the sel24f1.8 and i find the 12 mm to be as sharp as the 24.All review i read, and especially the ones coming from "le monde de la photo" and "chasseur d'image" which are famous specialized photography magazines in France, explains the Touit 12 mm to be sharper than the Touit 32 mm Touit. But you give huge different scores between the 32 and the 12 !!So, may be you had a bad sample or it must be a mistake...

Zeiss Touit 12mm : "The two new Touits from ZEISS live up to our expectations. While we’re unable to test these lenses on Fujifilm X-Series cameras currently, the results are likely to be very similar. On the Sony NEX-7, both lenses are very good indeed, excellent even, ..."

And from my point of view has i have both, there is nothing to compare in quality terms between this 2 lenses.

First replies for this comment

Re: Dxo mark score is a joke

Hello,

Thanks for your interest in DxOMark.

Both focal are different. Performing a similar score for a 12mm compared to a 20mm is a pretty good result for the Zeiss Touit.About the 12mm Zeiss Touit, you can check the 12mm comparison http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/ZEISS-Touit-2.8-12-and-Touit-1.8-32-Sony-mount-lens-reviews-performance-at-a-price/ZEISS-Touit-2.8-12mm-vs-competitionThere we pointed some weaknesses too such as chromatic aberration for instance.

Re: Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens

Other lenses from SLR Magic and Samyang

I mainly take pictures with my SLR Magic Hyperprime 50mm f0.95 and with a Samyang (or in my case called Walimex) 35mm T1.5 (video edition, also available f1.4).The whole Samyang line seems to be faster (there is also a 85mm 1.4 and 24mm 1.4) though a lot bulkier. Would be nice to read a test of one of those lenses.

I like to use some good old Canon FD lenses too like Canon FD 85mm 1.2L, Canon FD 80-200 4L and also, for macro work, Canon FD 50mm 3.5 Macro.Although more difficult to use (manual focus), they produce excellent results with Focus Peaking and Focus zoom help. The zoom optical quality is, for me, on a par with Canon EF 70-200 2.8L IS on a Canon body... without the size and weight! The 85mm provide exceptional OOF blur and Bokeh and also remains quite compact. And the macro, with or without bellow, does a very good job.I also sometimes shoot birds and wildlife with Nex7 + Canon EF400mm 5.6 x1.4 (on a good tripod !). This combo has longer "reach" for almost static subjects than my Canon 1DX with the same lens...

Full Frame Same Sensor Technology?

Your conclusion wonders "about the kind of score a full-frame DSLR would achieve with the same sensor technology as the Sony NEX 7". Is the Nikon D800 exactly that beast? When will you be testing this in comparison?

Pricing

I'm unclear why you list "Indicative price (USD)" as 1720 since this camera lists and sells for 1350 with the kit lens and 1200 without. I noticed you have a similar (though less extreme) discrepancy on the NEX 5N.

First replies for this comment

Re: Wrong picture

What about depth of field?

I love DxO mark reviews but there is one area I remain unenlightened (perhaps in both theory and practice).

My understanding is that lens diffraction will result in loss of detail (resolution) at f-stops higher than a mathematically determined point based on pixel pitch.

If I've got things right an APS-C sensor at 16MP does not suffer diffraction until somewhere between F8 and F11, but at 24MP loss of detail begins somewhere between F5.6 and F8. A FullFrame sensor will, of course, do much better because pixel pitch is larger.

I would *love* to see DxO mark test this. Seems simple (to my possibly challenged little mind), just shoot resolution chart at successive f-stops and record where diffraction kicks-in and limits or reduces resolution. Might be hard to normalize as a number and integrate into overall score, but immensely helpful as a photographer to know for each camera where stopping down begins to trade off not only longer exposure but also loss of detail [probably negating any actual DoF improvement].

I mention this here of course because the Nex-7 vs. Nex5-N is a good place to care [what I really want to know is whether I get equal DoF AND better resolution from the N7, or that (at some F-stop) my equal DoF comes at the price of resolution]. So if I do a lot of high f-stop work to maximize DoF perhaps the Nex-7 doesn't actually give me better resolution? Even more interesting to compare FF to APS-C to get a sense of how much more DoF the FF can capture....

Hope my post isn't too clueless. In any event keep up the terrific work - DxO is a fabulous resource!

First replies for this comment

Re: What about depth of field?

Quote:

In that aspect, the best possible sensor has only one pixel. Thus it does not lose any details regardless of f-stop. Only problem is, it had none details to start with. The same, but for lesser degree, goes for your comparison of 16 MP and 24 MP sensors.

DXomark results already include diffraction, it would be difficult (and meaningless) to exclude it because they measure real lenses.

If you need large DOF, and avoid diffraction limit at same time, TS lenses or TS adaptor result in a improvement. Picture stacking is another way. Pixel size, or sensor size has nothing to do with diffraction because it occurs within lens.

Re: What about depth of field?

Quote:

<div id="linkdxomark">This a comment for <a href="http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Sony/NEX-7">this page on the website</a></div>I love DxO mark reviews but there is one area I remain unenlightened (perhaps in both theory and practice).

My understanding is that lens diffraction will result in loss of detail (resolution) at f-stops higher than a mathematically determined point based on pixel pitch.

If I've got things right an APS-C sensor at 16MP does not suffer diffraction until somewhere between F8 and F11, but at 24MP loss of detail begins somewhere between F5.6 and F8. A FullFrame sensor will, of course, do much better because pixel pitch is larger.

I would *love* to see DxO mark test this. Seems simple (to my possibly challenged little mind), just shoot resolution chart at successive f-stops and record where diffraction kicks-in and limits or reduces resolution. Might be hard to normalize as a number and integrate into overall score, but immensely helpful as a photographer to know for each camera where stopping down begins to trade off not only longer exposure but also loss of detail [probably negating any actual DoF improvement].

I mention this here of course because the Nex-7 vs. Nex5-N is a good place to care [what I really want to know is whether I get equal DoF AND better resolution from the N7, or that (at some F-stop) my equal DoF comes at the price of resolution]. So if I do a lot of high f-stop work to maximize DoF perhaps the Nex-7 doesn't actually give me better resolution? Even more interesting to compare FF to APS-C to get a sense of how much more DoF the FF can capture....

Hope my post isn't too clueless. In any event keep up the terrific work - DxO is a fabulous resource!

Cheers,

Bumpy.

Diffraction is a function of the shape and size of the lens aperture. It's relation to sensors is in terms of size: a smaller sensor has to be magnified more to create an equivalent sized image; thus the circle of confusion is also magnified. As far as I know it's not related to pixel pitch.

Re: What about depth of field?

The circle of least confusion is the smallest spot that a lens can produce. Isn't the circle of least confusion effected by aperture? And doesn't it matter when it exceeds the pixel pitch? I think Bumpy has a good point.

SLT A77 Firmware Update & Next 7

The firmware for the Sony SLT A77 was just upgraded and one of the alleged improvements is better image quality. Since the Sony NEX 7 uses the same sensor as that of the A77, is it safe to assume that Sony will apply the same update to the NEX 7? If so will DXOLabs re-test the camera?

It's impressive to see the IQ of the tiny and convenient NEX-7 be so close to that of my Nikon D3X.